The Control Freak’s Story
May 14, 2007 by Lesley-Ann Graham
Filed under Wedding Planning Tips
Have you ever wondered how a control freak plans a wedding? Here are some excerpts from an article written by a control freak who planned her own wedding:
…watching a control freak plan a wedding is like seeing how many jellybeans you can fit in your mouth: amusing for a little while, but in the end painful and likely to make you ill. I’ve been making myself sick for about two months now. It started with the date. Seems everyone thought they had a right to an opinion, including the Beloved. After much screaming, gnashing of teeth and a few threats to call the whole thing off, we agreed on a day. Okay, so the date’s set and I move on to the next phase. Picking a reception site.
Sounds easy doesn’t it. After two trips to the wedding city and looking at eleven places to satisfy my curiosity and belief that the very one I wouldn’t look at would be perfect and cheap. After eleven, Beloved called it quits. I started to cry. That’s when my control freak became painful. We chose the first site we looked at. Beloved remarked that he had known when we walked in it the first time that it was the one. Yeah, rub it in….
…Luckily, I was able to get help. Namely, my college roommate telling me that I was driving her crazy and to stop whining. I took a long look at myself. And I hit bottom. I had to admit to myself that I was a control freak.
Some little known fact about control freaks. It’s not that we’re so self-confident that we believe we’re always right. Instead, we’re paranoid. We’re convinced that no one has our best interests at heart and should we ever let down on our vigilance, we’d find ourselves homeless, friendless and sniffing glue…
This, of course, will not happen. I have taken the first step to letting go. I assigned Beloved to deal with music — all the music. My bridesmaids are picking their own dresses. And my mom is helping with the catering…
Rather than getting angry that no one is helping, I’m feeling relaxed for the first time since I got engaged. Every time I start to worry, I state my mantra of the wedding ‘At the end of the evening, all the guests will be too drunk to care.’ Sure, it’s not the serenity prayer, but it works.